Every June, the gaming industry converges on the Los Angeles Convention Centre for the Electronic Entertainment Expo, affectionately known to gamers worldwide as E3. The expo has, in parallel to the industry itself, grown from rather humble beginnings to become a multi-billion dollar enterprise that easily surpasses cinema in terms of sheer revenue. As such expectations tend to mount year after year. Indeed, how a company fares at E3 can make or break them for the year ahead. Of course, E3 hasn't actually officially started yet, and the vastness of the expo itself means that it would be impossible to sum it all up in one article anyway. I will, however, do my very best to cover the most interesting announcements from the “Big Two” press conferences (Microsoft and Sony), both of whom hosted their pre-E3 press conferences yesterday.
Gears of War 4
First, let's get the big hardware announcements out of the way. Microsoft were not particularly big on games this year. There were games, of course, but the Microsoft conference felt, to me at least, like an excuse to show off the new Xbox One models. I'm on the fence as to whether or not this was a smart choice. Microsoft is losing out to Sony in quite a big way this generation, but jumping the gun and brining out a new, more powerful console this early in the game could be seen by some as pissing on their existing fans. The new Xbox One S (slim) model does look cool, but there's very little that really needs to be said about it. It's a smaller, version of the Xbox One with a slightly improves controller (textured grip for the win). Other changes include moving the USB ports to the front of the console, adding a built-in infrared blaster and eliminating the port for the motion-detecting Kinect camera system. It will also support 4K video and will go on sale in the US in August for $299 or $399, depending on the size of the hard drive.
Project Scorpio
It was Project Scorpio that really took the headlines though, and with good reason. We were promised the “most powerful games console of all time” with 4K capabilities and the ability to support high quality VR natively. I have no idea if that means the Oculus Rift, the HTC Vive or Microsoft's own VR tech, but one thing I will say is that their AR product, the HoloLens, was not mentioned once. Going back to the Scorpio, the console's launch date was announced as the end of 2017, which means we at least have time to save up our pennies. Given the sheer power of the console, however, I'm guessing we'll be looking at a console costing at least £500 at launch, because it's essentially as powerful as a current top-end gaming PC, with six teraflops of power. That is a LOT. Everything else is pure speculation at the moment, but, needless to say, I'm not sold. I am willing to be convinced though. It is interesting that Sony decided not to unveil their competing Playstation Neo console, but considering the amount of games they had to cover, keeping it under wraps for now was probably a wise decision (more on that later).
Xbox Design Labs – The New Controller
Before we get into the games, Microsoft also confirmed cross-platform access, Xbox Play Anywhere, meaning that gamers who buy a title for one will be able to play it on Xbox or Windows 10 PCs at no added cost. Cross-play will also allow people to play online with others via systems of their choice. This was demonstrated on stage by Lydia Winters from Mojang and Saxs Persson from Microsoft Studios, who teamed up in Minecraft via an iPad and Microsoft Surface tablet. Among other new features for gamers were updates to Xbox Live, including Clubs, a hangout area for gamers, and Looking for Group, which will help players find others who want to collaborate with them online. It was also announced that Xbox fans will be able to order customisable Elite controllers, selecting from eight million colour variations. The controllers will cost $79.99 with additional laser engraving costing $9.99. The web portal through which people can design their own controllers is live now, but the devices themselves will not ship until September.
Xbox Play Anywhere
In terms of games, the big ones for Microsoft were Gears of War 4 and Halo Wars 2. These are the brand's two biggest franchises, and both games looked incredible to be honest. Gears 4 launches on October, and will also be coming to the PC with Cross-play support. We then got a demonstration of the game in action, and whilst it looked like more of the same, the same is no bad thing when it comes to the franchise that essentially invented the modern shooter. Following the Gears of War 4 section, Playground Games' creative director Ralph Fulton appeared on stage to talk about Forza Horizon 3, which is coming to Xbox One and PC in September. Later on in the presentation, Microsoft announced all of its first-party studios titles will also be part of the Play Anywhere program, including Platinum Games' Scalebound, Rare's Sea of Thieves, and Capcom's Dead Rising 4. There was also a game called ReCore that looked very interesting indeed, but we got precious little info on that one. Honestly, there was nothing truly spectacular gameplay wise, and nothing surprising, but this was an event geared around the far future, not the immediate future, and on that front, Microsoft seems to be focusing more on 2017 and 2018 than 2016.
Xbox One S
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and struggling musician from Kidderminster in the UK. He owns all three consoles and a gaming PC so is not biased in any way. But (sorry Microsoft) SONY WON. See HERE for my thoughts on the Sony conference.
